Triple Talaq Invalid Unless Wife Consents: Shia Board

Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh), Sept. 10: The All India Shia Personal Law Board (AISPLB) has suggested the adoption of a ‘modern nikahnama’ (marriage contract), seeking changes in the terms and conditions of marriage under the Islamic law.

“Our school of thought does not accept talaq just like that. We need evidence of talaq. Just by uttering talaq three times, it cannot be granted,” Shia cleric Maulana Yasub Abba told ANI.

Resonating similar sentiments, Maulana Sadiq, All-India Muslim Personal Law Board vice-president said, “There are many sects in the Muslim religion. Even if husband says ‘talaq’ three lakh times, it won’t be valid. Until both man and woman call for a divorce, action shouldn’t be taken.”

He asserted that the Muslim religion teaches that nothing can be without justice and reasoning.

The AIMPLB had mooted a similar model ‘nikahnama’ in 2003 laying down specific guidelines and conditions on which a marriage can be annulled by both husband and wife and the prescribed format has been prevalent among a large section of Sunni Muslims in Uttar Pradesh.

On September 2, the AIMPLB had told the Supreme Court, which is hearing a PIL by a Muslim woman against the practice of triple talaq, that the scrapping of instantaneous talaq will increase the possibility of husbands killing their estranged wives. It also defended the practice of polygamy.